Negotiating the Insurgency: The Case for Settling Afghanistan’s War and Securing “Negative” Peace

By Jeffrey M. Bernstein

This article evaluates the logic of negotiations in Afghanistan’s counterinsurgency environment and argues that reaching “negative” peace through negotiated settlement is in the best interest of all relevant stakeholders. Rather than being seen as alternatives, negotiating and war fighting must be viewed along a continuum.

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The Forgotten History of Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Tara Vassefi

Pakistan’s historical and contemporary support for jihadi groups has caused US policy prescriptions over the past decade to focus prominently on the need to change Pakistan’s strategic orientation. In this article, the authors explore one aspect of Pakistan’s strategic calculations that has received insufficient attention in public debate: the degree to which Afghanistan’s aggressions against Pakistan have helped to shape the latter’s support for religious militant groups.

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America’s Waning Military Edge

By Andrew Burt

Just days before the United States launched its first missiles into Libya, the Israeli navy confiscated a cache of Iranian-made missiles bound for the Gaza Strip. The Iranian precision-guided missiles, known as Nasr missiles or C-704s, are deadly to targets both on land and at sea. Revelations of such weapons’ dispersion are as striking as they are significant: Just as the technological edge that has come to define America’s military power was on full display in Libya, simultaneous events show that the US technological edge is eroding.

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Waiting to Be Somebody in Somaliland

By Jason Warner

With the July 2011 secession of South Sudan, and contemporary discussions of Palestinian statehood, observers rightly ask: is Somaliland next? Although it deserves independence as much as any of today’s attempted breakaway regions, a confluence of ill-conceived orientations from the United Nations (UN), the United States, and especially the African Union (AU) means that Somaliland’s wait to become an international “somebody” will not come to an end in the near future.

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